It hasn’t always been smooth between the Baltimore Ravens and Tyler Huntley.
Maybe that’s why it felt so hard to reconcile that they needed each other more than both parties were once willing to admit.
It’s almost hard to understand, in the wake of a 30-16 win over the Chicago Bears — a game that essentially held the Ravens’ entire season in the balance — why Huntley and the Ravens split up in the first place.
Short of being Lamar Jackson, the sixth-year backup gave a beleaguered offense everything it could have hoped for on Sunday afternoon. He was an efficient thrower, completing 17 of his 22 pass attempts. His scrambling ability translated to 53 yards on the ground, including a 29-yard rush in the third quarter. He didn’t turn the ball over.
It was exactly the steady, good-enough performance that the Ravens have needed since Jackson got hurt in Week 4. It seems head-scratching, in retrospect, that the Ravens ever turned to Cooper Rush to start games against the Texans and Rams — finishing both with stat lines that were truly forgettable.
“Ran the offense, ran the ball, completed passes — just kept great poise in critical moments,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I don’t think you can play any better than that.”
Harbaugh pointed across the room to Huntley, whose pearly white grin flashed a few watts brighter with the shoutout.
“That was one of those all-time great performances, man,” Harbaugh said. “I’m proud of you.”
Huntley has spent at least parts of all six of his NFL seasons in Baltimore, and on Sunday, that experience helped an awful lot.
His top target was Zay Flowers, who caught seven passes for 63 yards. He read his options well, finding the right times to hang on to the ball to keep the Bears on their back heels. Even at the line of scrimmage, tight end Charlie Kolar said, his presence stood out before the snap.
“You can see how many checks and reads at the line we had,” said Kolar, who connected on a 10-yard touchdown pass. “He did a great job of studying, and he was confident back there.”
It would have been hard to imagine this successful of a reunion a few months ago, and especially the warmth between Huntley and Harbaugh. The relationship hasn’t felt very cozy since January 2023, when Huntley made the costliest mistake of his career the last time he was trusted with the season on the line.
Huntley replaced an injured Jackson that day in Cincinnati, and on a game-defining 3rd and goal on the one, the Ravens called a tush push with Huntley as the carrier. He was supposed to go low, but instead he went high, with disastrous results — the ball was knocked from his hands and recovered by linebacker Sam Hubbard, who returned it 98 yards for what would be the game-winning score.
“We felt that was the best call,” Harbaugh said afterward. “We just didn’t execute it right.”
While Huntley returned the following year, he never started a game of consequence for Baltimore again — until this Sunday against the Bears, when it became clear he was by far the best healthy option at quarterback.
The Ravens let him walk after the 2024 season, opting to have Josh Johnson serve as Jackson’s backup instead.
Harbaugh may have sowed the seeds for a reunion this summer. He called Huntley, who was working out in his native Florida, waiting and hoping for good news from some NFL team.
Huntley had a starting stint with the Dolphins during the 2024 season, but with more picks (3) than touchdown passes (2), it hadn’t been résumé-boosting material for his return to the league.
While at times it seemed through the 2023 season that Harbaugh’s trust in Huntley was irrevocably curdled by the game-changing fumble, it seemed that his willingness to reach out to Huntley, who eventually signed to Baltimore’s practice squad in August, was a major factor in retaining the longtime backup’s services.
“We talked about it — ‘If it does come to fruition, you’re gonna win football games, and you could win a football game for us,’” he said. “And here we are. It’s one of those things you could never predict, but it’s the way things work sometimes.”
Fresh off a workout, Huntley said he was ecstatic to hear from his old coach: “I was just like, ‘I would love to play for the best team in the National Football League again.’”
Huntley’s biggest mistake may have defined how the 2022 season ended, but that point in time should not obscure why his unique strengths work in Baltimore. His mobility helps the offense retain its shape and keeps the defense guessing just enough to make him effective. He’s versed in the offense and its language, which Harbaugh said helped make it “an easy decision” to make him the starter in place of Rush out of the bye.
The funny thing is that Huntley may need Baltimore as much as it needed him this week. He’s done consecutive training camps with the Cleveland Browns, but hasn’t managed to stick, and the Dolphins didn’t take him back.
However, it always seems he has a soft landing spot on the Ravens’ practice squad. Sunday’s performance was a reminder of why Baltimore should keep leaving the door open for him to come back.
“Relationships last forever,” Huntley said. “And I’m grateful for that.”
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